Seroma Problem in Breast Cancer Surgery

Abstract

The seroma is a serious complication which can occur after the surgical treatment of breast cancer. Between January 1986 to January 1994 the charts of 232 patients treated surgically with the diagnosis of breast cancer were reviewed retrospectively. 231 patients were female and 1 male with ages ranged from 28 to 88 years (mean of 53 years). 148 patients were in postmenopausal state and 84 patients were in premenapausal state. As surgical treatment modified radical mastectomy was performed on 170 patients and wide excision plus axillary dissection on 62. The seroma occurrence rate was 37.6% (64 patients) in patients treated with modified radical mastectomy and 25.8% (16 patients) in conservative surgery group. The average hospitalization period was 6.8 days in patients without the seromas while 15 days in patients with seromas.

There is no relationship between menopause state, age, lymph nodes metastasis, number of metastatic lymph nodes and seroma formation but is significantly related with the number of dissected lymph nodes (p =0.0046).